Circle
by sinemoras09
Summary: Masaki becomes a hollow. Gen. Angst. Isshin, Masaki. Vague spoilers for chapter 188.


_Author's note: I was thinking about how Inoue's brother turned into a Hollow, and this is the result. Hopefully it's not too out there :x  
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_i._

"Ichigo!"

Masaki lurched forward, throwing herself beside her son. Something crashed, and suddenly she was thrust backwards, slamming onto the ground.

Masaki groaned, pushing herself upright. Her vision blurring at the edges, she could just make out her son lying unconscious on the grass. And beside him....

Beside him was _her_, splayed forward, eyes open and blood at the corner of her mouth.

Masaki screamed. She screamed and jerked forward, but the chain of fate was still tethered firmly to her body. Something crashed again and she whirled around, coming face-to-face with the dark looming shape behind her.

"Ichigo." Masaki backed up. Crawling on her knees, her hand slipped on the muddy ground. Behind her, the dark shape laughed. "There's no escaping it," it said. The ground shook. "He's just the appetizer. But you....I think you'll be the main course."

"No..." Masaki shook her head dully, like a child trying to comprehend a foreign language. "No, no, this can't be...."

"Ha ha! Foolish human! Try to run, I dare you!"

Masaki threw herself over her son, who was still unconscious. "Ichigo!" Masaki said. She tried to shake him but her hands passed over his body. "Ichigo!"

"Too late!" The thing grinned at her, blood dripping out of its mouth. "Look."

And there she saw it: Ichigo's soul, limp and unconscious, chain pinched between the monster's fingers.

"My my, this chain. It's so _heavy_." The monster took a certain glee in it. "This one has a little reiatsu after all."

"Get away from him!" Masaki said.

The thing laughed harder.

"I said get _away_!"

Thunder crashed, and everything flattened around her.

Her chain was broken. Masaki stood, breathing hard, chain snapped in two and a sword inexplicably in her hand.

"Oh my, look what you've done," the monster said. "You've snapped your chain. And here I thought--"

Its eyes widened. He saw the sword in Masaki's hand. "What...?"

"Let him go," Masaki said.

"Zampakuto," the monster said. "But you're not--"

"_I said let him go!_"

She swung, sword crashing into the monster's side. Masaki's eyes widened.

The monster was unharmed.

A low, deep rumble rose out from the monster's belly. It was laughing. "_Teme_," the monster said. It stepped forward. "You've been in contact with the shinigami, haven't you?"

"I don't understand--"

The monster took another step. "That zampakuto of yours was useless," he said. Behind him, Masaki could see Ichigo's soul still lying on the ground.

"Ichigo..." Terror seized Masaki's throat. She took a step back, then another, before her footing gave way and she slammed back onto the ground.

She didn't understand. Her fingers sank into the mud, chain dragging uselessly on the ground.

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_ii._

There was pain, and little else. Everything was spinning, and suddenly she was thrust from the clouds, insides ripped to shreds and tumbling onto the ground.

Dark shapes stood around her, some of them were cheering. Scales swirled upward and strangled her limbs, and she was growing, stretching, bones popping and skin shearing away.

The mask formed then, brown hair whipping across her nonexistent face.

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_iii._

She found herself outside the clinic, floating soundlessly in the night air.

"Masaki." The human stepped forward, flicking his cigarette. "You've come to kill the children, haven't you?"

She roared, the force of her reiatsu threatening to flatten everything on the ground.

"This is my fault," the human said. "I should have been there. I should have been there to protect you..."

She slammed her enormous fist into the ground, her reiatsu doubling in strength. The human needed to be crushed. Devoured. She roared and swung, an angry coloussus.

_Why?_

Her mind screamed. Yellow swirled into the whites of her eyes. _Why?_

"Masaki." Desperation in his voice. "You're still in there, Masaki...I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to. I can't."

The man was crying.

Something stilled in her then. Something from the edges of her mind. _Crying. Why is he...?_ She howled, unable to understand.

"Masaki..."

And suddenly, the chip in her mask began to crack.

Masaki stared at her husband, kneeling on the ground.

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_iv._

It was raining, now. Dimly, Masaki could see her husband's robes, wet with rain and sticking to his body, and the bloody sword lying at his side.

"I'm sorry," Isshin said. And suddenly he struck.

Masaki screamed. Pain enveloped her then and she pitched forward, slamming onto the ground.

Her husband walked up to her, sheathing his sword. Dimly she understood that he was not at his full power, that killing her had been a sheer act of will. He moved toward her, the rain on his face like tears.

"Masaki," he said, and it was as if a thousand lights had gone off inside her. Masaki went rigid, bright lights escaping through the cracks in her body. "Masaki. Forgive me..."

The edges around her sight dimmed as she felt her soul disintegrate into the air.

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_v._

_It was nighttime when she arrived, the blurry halos from the paper lanterns casting a muted glow on the street. _

_She rubbed her hands and shivered, wondering slightly how heaven could feel so cold._

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**A/N: I realize Isshin's power probably wasn't back then, but I thought if anyone was going to kill hollow!Masaki, it should be him. *nods* I was also thinking about how contact with Ichigo led to Chad and Inoue getting powers, so to me it made sense that Masaki would be sporting a baby!Zampakuto herself ;)**

**Whoa, author's note is LONG. oops :x**

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